By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 2 -- Nigeria LNG Ltd. (NLNG) directors and shareholders Friday approved the addition of a sixth train at NLNG's LNG liquefaction plant at Finima on Bonny Island, Nigeria. The additional train will boost NLNG's production capacity about 4 million tonnes/year to 22 million tonnes of LNG and 5 million tonnes/year of natural gas liquids. Train 6 is scheduled to start up in fourth quarter 2007.
NLNG is a Nigerian joint venture of Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. 49%, Shell Gas BV 25.6%, Total LNG Nigeria Ltd. 15%, and ENI International (NA) NV 10.4%. Subsidiaries Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd., Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd., and Nigerian Agip Oil Co. will supply equity gas to the plant to feed Train 6.
Most LNG production has been sold for North American destinations: Barbados-based Shell Western LNG will purchase 3 million tonnes/year of LNG, primarily for markets in Mexico and the US, and Total Gas & Power Ltd. will buy 1 million tonnes/year for proposed LNG receiving terminals in the Iberian Peninsula, North America, and Mexico.
Both are long-term contracts that together represent about 35% of NLNG's total output. The balance will be sold to Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and Turkey (OGJ Online, May 14, 2004).
Shell and Total jointly are planning a 500 MMcfd LNG terminal and regasification terminal at Altamira, Tamaulipas, in northeastern Mexico that is slated for completion in 2006. Shell also is planning Gulf Landing, a 1bcfd terminal in the Gulf of Mexico off West Cameron, La. for completion in 2008.
This is NLNG's second long-term sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Shell Western. Earlier Shell had signed an SPA for 1.1 million tonnes/year of LNG from NLNGPlus—Trains 4 and 5, which have reached an advanced stage of construction and are expected to start up next year.
Engineering, procurement, and construction contracts for Train 6 will be awarded to the TSKJ consortium (Technip-Coflexip Group of France, Italy's Snamprogetti SPA, KBR, and JGC Corp., Yokohama), and the tankage and jetty works contract to Entrepose Contracting.
To transport the LNG, NLNG signed charter hire agreements with Bergesen DY ASA of Norway for three ships and an option for one other, and with Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha for two ships. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. will build them in South Korea. NLNG's shipping subsidiary is Bonny Gas Transport Ltd.
Nigeria LNG, the biggest industrial project in Africa, began production with two trains in October 1999, adding a third train in November 2002.
